Atlegrim, O. 1989. Exclusion of birds from bilberry stands: impact on insect larval density and damage to the bilberry. Oecologia 79: 136-139.

Found that birds had a greater impact on exposed feeding insects than on concealed feeders. Damage to the host plant was greater inside exclosures. This is a simple straight forward paper.

Bernays, E., and M. Graham. 1988. On the evolution of host specificity in phytophagous arthropods. Ecology 69(4): 886-892.

Argues for a de-emphasis of bottom-up mechanisms in the evolution of phytophagous insect defenses. Sparked many responses and discussions about debate on strength of plants versus predators as a selective force. For responses, see articles in Ecology 69(4).

Craig, T., P. W. Price, K. M. Clancy, G. L. Waring, and C. F. Sacchi. 1988. Forces preventing coevolution in the three-trophic-level system: willow, a gall-forming herbivore, and parasitoid. In Chemical Mediation of Coevolution, pp. Chapter 3. American Institute of Biological Sciences.

Presents an example of both top-down and bottom-up effects in a specific study system. System: willow,Salix lasiolepsis; gall-forming sawfly, Euura lasiolepsis; ectoparasitoid, Pteromalus.

Damman, H. 1987. Leaf quality and enemy avoidance by the larvae of a pyralid moth. Ecology 68: 88-97.

Interesting conclusion of larvae preferring older, less nutritious leaves that built better shelters, over nutritionally superior younger leaves.

Faeth, S. H. 1985. Host leaf selection by leaf miners: interactions among three trophic levels. Ecology 66: 870-875.

Finds a higher rate of parasitoid attack of leafminers on damaged leaves than on intact leaves. Early feeding insects might be creating cues for parasitoids which reduces the survivorship of late feeders.

Faeth, S. H. 1987. Community structure and folivorous insect outbreaks: the roles of vertical and horizontal interactions. Pages 135-171 in P. Barbosa and J. C. Schultz, editors. Insect Outbreaks. Academic Press, San Diego, California, USA.

General discussion of the rarity of outbreaks and possible regulatory mechanisms such as autecological factors, vertical interactions: natural enemy and host plant effects, and horizontal: competition or mutualism.

Gardner, K. T., and D. C. Thompson. 1998. Influence of avian predation on a grasshopper (Orthoptera: Acrididae) assemblage that feeds on threadleaf snakeweed.

Through an exclosure experiment, bird predation was found to be a significant mortality factor and regulator of grasshopper populations. The grasshoppers suppress snakeweed at high density.

Gaylord, E. S., R. W. Preszler, and W. J. Boecklen. 1995. Interactions between host plants, endophytic fungi, and a phytophagous insect in an oak (Quercus grisea x Q. gambelii). Oecologia 1-7.

Three-way interactions between plant hybridization, endophytic fungi, and the insect herbivore were not significant.

Hunter, M. D., and P. W. Price. 1992. Playing chutes and ladders: heterogeneity and the relative roles of bottom-up and top-down forces in natural communities. Ecology 73: 724-732.

Interesting commentary on the necessity and importance of synthesizing top-down and bottom-up forces on populations and ecological communities. Discusses "feedback loops" in trophic interactions.

Kahn, D. M., and Cornell, H. V. 1989. Leafminers, early leaf abcission, and parasitioids: a tritrophic interaction. Ecology 70: 1219-1226.

Concluded that premature leaf abcission reduced rates of parasitism, thereby decreasing mortality due to natural enemies. This result contradicts most studies where leaf abcission is a significant mortality source for leafminers (Faeth et al 1981).

Lawton, J. H., and S. McNeil. 1979. Between the devil and the deep blue sea: On the problem of being an herbivore. Symp. Br. Ecol. Soc. 20: 223-244.

A well-written and interesting paper on the regulation of phytophagous insect populations from two trophic levels: natural enemies and plants. Presents an overview of models of phytophagous insect-parasitoid interactions and also discusses effects of plant chemistry.

Marquis, R. J., and C. J. Whelan. 1994. Insectivorous birds increase growth of white oak through consumption of leaf-chewing insects. Ecology 75(7): 2007-2014.

Examination of indirect effects of insectivorous birds on plant growth by excluding birds with a caging experiment. Also, sprayed insecticide to study the impact of insect herbivores on plant growth. Found a significant impact of insectivorous birds on plant growth. An excellent experimental study on the potential ecological impacts of birds on plant productivity and fitness

Power, M. E. 1992. Top-down and bottom-up forces in food webs: do plants have primacy? Ecology 73: 733-746.

Continues the discussion raised by Hunter and Price (1992). Reviews the factors that affect he strength of top-down and bottom-up forces in food webs. Reviews methodological problems with testing multi-trophic level systems.

Preszler, R. W., and W. J. Boecklen. 1994. A three-trophic-level analysis of the effects of plant hybridization on a leaf-mining moth. Oecologia (Berlin) 100: 66-73.

Evaluates leafminer Phyllonorycter oviposition behavior and level of plant hybridization.

Preszler, R. W., and W. J. Boecklen. 1996. The influence of elevation on tri-trophic interactions: Opposing gradients of top-down and bottom-up effects on a leaf-ming moth. Ecoscience 3: 75-80.

This study reports effects of the abiotic heterogeneity on trophic interactions, whereas most tri-trophic studies begin and end with biotic factors. Good paper.

Price, P. W., Bouton, C. E., Gross, P., McPherson, B. A., Thompson, J. N., and A. E. Weis. 1980. Interactions among three trophic levels: Influence of plants on interactions between insect herbivores and natural enemies. Ann. Rev. Ecol. Syst. 11: 41-65.

Excellent review tri-trophic interactions and theory. Rich in references.

Price, P. W. 1983). Hypotheses on Organization and Evolution in Herbivorous Insect Communities. In Variable Plants and Herbivores in Natural and Managed Systems (ed. R. F. Denno, and M. S. McClure), pp. 559-596. Academic Press. Inc.

Excellent review of evolutionary mechanisms and hypotheses. Good resource for references. Includes discussion of theories about community level interactions and ecological relationships such as intraspecies and interspecies competition.

Price, P. W. 1987. The role of natural enemies in insect populations. Pages 287-312 in P. Barbosa and J. C. Schultz, editors. Insect Outbreaks. Academic Press, San Diego, California, USA.

Top-down selection and three-trophic-level interactions. Good overview.

Rank, N. E., and J. T. Smiley. 1994. Host-plant effects on Parasyrphus melanderi (Diptera: Syrphidae) feeding on willow leaf beetle Chrysomela aeneicollis (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae). Ecological Entomology 19: 31-38.

Interesting study of an insect sequestering salicin from willows and secreting it as a generalist predator defense. Worth reading.

Simms, E. L., and R. S. Fritz.1991. The ecology and evolution of host-plant resistance to insects. Trends in Ecology and Evolution .

A very readable, succinct discussion of genetic variation and genetic models of coevolution of plants and herbivores. Reviews causes and consequences of plant resistance on herbivore community structure and three-trophic effects.

Stein, S. J. & Price, P. W.1995. Relative effects of plants resistance and natural enemies by plant developmental age on sawfly (Hymenoptera: Tenthredinidae) preference and performance. Environmental Entomology 24:1909-916.

Interesting paper and good methodology and analysis of relationship between oviposition preference and larval performance. Also examines the mortality caused by plant resistance and by natural enemies. Found that mortality from plant resistance was eight times greater.

Wiens, J. A., R. G. Cates, J. T. Rotenberry, N. Cobb, B. Van Horne, and R. A. Redak.1991. Arthropod dynamics on sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata): effects of plant chemistry and avian predation. Ecological Monographs 61: 299-321.

Bird exclosure and arthropod removal treatments. Difficult study to interpret and understand.

Campbell, R. W., T. R. Torgersen, S. C. Forest, and N. Srivastava.1983. A suggested role for predaceous birds and ants in the population dynamics of the western spruce budworm. Forest Science 29: 779-790.

Used whole tree exclosures and sticky barriers to exclude avian predators and/or predaceous ants. Concluded that birds and ants exerted major influence.

Gradwohl, J., and R. Greenberg. 1982. The effect of a single species of avian predator on the arthropods of aerial leaf litter. Ecology 63(2): 581-583.

Simple study finding that Mymotherula fulviventris (Checker-throated Antwren, Formicariidae) had a significant impact on arthropod prey populations.

Holmes, R. T., J. C. Schultz, and P. Nothnagle.1979. Bird predation on forest insects: an exclosure experiment. Science 206: 592-602.

Brief article presenting exclosure experiment. Defends concept that birds are important selective agents in the evolution of crypsis and other predator avoidance strategies.

Torgersen, T. R., R. R. Mason, and R. W. Campbell. 1990. Predation by birds and ants on two forest insect pests in the Pacific Northwest. Studies in Avian Biology 13: 14-19.

Caging of whole trees and selected branches to study effects of natural enemies. This research was aimed to demonstrate the beneficial role of natural enemies of insect pests in forest ecosystems.

Faeth, S. H., E. F. Connor, and D. Simberloff. 1981. Early leaf abcission: a neglected source of mortality for folivores. American Naturalist 117: 409-415.

"Notes and Comments" article discussing the consequences of early leaf abcission on mortality. Compares percent of mined leaves on abcised leaves versus those held on the trees.

Floyd, T. 1996. Top-down impacts on creosotebush herbivores in a spatially and temporally complex environment . Ecology 77(5): 1544-1555.

An example of a multi-factorial analysis. Tests for the effect of birds, arthropod predators, and habitat heterogeneity with a caging experiment.

Fowler, S. V., and J. H. Lawton.1985. rapidly induced defense and talking trees: the devil's advocate position. American Naturalist 126: 181-195.

Easy to read, interesting paper debating the possibility of induced defenses and inter-tree communication.

Fritz, R. S., W. S. Gaud, C. F. Sacchi, and P.W. Price. Variation in herbivore density among host plants and its consequences for community structure. Field studies of willow sawflies.

Provides information on spatial heterogeneity of host plant and its effects on insect distribution.

Preszler, R. W., and Price, P. W.1993. The influence of Salix leaf abcission of leaf-miner survival and life history. Ecological Entomology 13: 195-205.

Good paper demonstrating the effect of leaf phenology on leaf-miners.

Rhoades, D. F.1983. Herbivore population dynamics and plant chemistry. In Variable plants and herbivores in natural and managed systems. (ed. R. F. Denno and M. S. McCLure), pp. 155-220. Academic Press, New York, New York, USA.

A very readable chapter all from the "bottom-up". Discusses the battle between "responding" plants and insects. Good overview and references.

Wold, E. N., and R. J. Marquis. 1997. Induced defense in white oak: effects on herbivores and consequences for the plant. Ecology 78(5): 1356-1369.

Tests induced responses of early-season damage and subsequent changes in leaf quality, herbivore distributions, and plant damage levels both spatially and temporally. Good experimental design and analysis.